The Problem with the Other Side

Uly

I m in love because a clown got handcuffed to a nun.
     Last November I was in this dumb-ass school play called Hostages and Hot Plates where this rich Connecticut girl holds a whole restaurant hostage until her parents agree to let her marry this penniless-as-hell guy she s mad thirsty for. The parents are okay with the dude being poor, but they re not okay with him being from Neptune (yep, the planet). So the girl holds everybody at the restaurant her parents, her little brother, her aunt (who s a nun), a snooty middle-aged businesswoman, a squabbling elderly couple, a clown, a magician, and me (I play the damn waiter) at gunpoint until her parents are okay with Neptune. Of course, hijinks ensue. At one stupid point, the clown and the magician who are there for the little brother s birthday party get into a fistfight because the clown thinks he knows more tricks than the magician who thinks he s funnier than the clown and during their scuffle the magician bumps into the snooty businesswoman who accidentally pours cranberry juice all over my white uniform. For some reason, that makes me faint. I especially hated that part, by the way. I ve never fainted before in my life. For those of you who don t know: black folks don t faint. I m not sure why; we just don t. Evidently the playwright missed that memo and forced a brother to faint every night in front of administrators, teachers, and fellow schoolmates. Anyway, after a while the hostage negotiator persuades the girl to let all the hostages go, but her aunt the nun decides to stay with the girl, and the clown feeling guilty about some real disturbing shit he s done over the years (it s a long-ass list that I don t have time to get into right now) refuses to leave the nun alone with the girl so he handcuffs himself to the nun. The hostage negotiator eventually breaks into the restaurant and, seeing me unconscious on the floor in my cranberry-juiced white suit, thinks the girl

Kwame Ivery was born in Bronx, New York, and raised in East Orange, New Jersey. He received a BA in psychology from Princeton University and an MFA in dramatic writing from New York University s Tisch School of The Arts. He s had a screenplay optioned by Hollywood storyboard artist Karl Shefelman (The Silence of the Lambs, American Gangster). He s a proud high school English teacher with over a hundred teenage students who, on a daily basis, teach him just as many things as he teaches them. He loves lasagna and hates musicals; he thinks contrasts are underrated and symmetry overrated. You can visit Kwame at kwameivery.com or on Twitter @KwameIvery.

Praise for The Problem with the Other Side

A Bank Street Best Children s Book of 2022

By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, The Problem with the Other Side had me hooked from the delightful opening scene . . . Told from two alternating points of view, Kwame Ivery's book features characters whose voices are so clear and real that I felt as if they were sitting right beside me telling me their stories. The romance is deliciously sweet, even as it begins to grow complicated under a close examination of racism, white privilege, and bigotry. A masterful work of humor, heart, and human connection.
Alyssa Wees, author of The Waking Forest

Kwame Ivery has written a powerful allegory of American politics that offers way more healing than we deserve but exactly as much healing as we need.
Preston Norton, author of Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe

There are debuts, and then there are debuts like Kwame Ivery s The Problem with the Other Side a book that is utterly heart-filling, -breaking, and -reflecting all at once. Sincere, funny, and devastating, Ivery's novel holds a mirror up to America and shows the reader the makings of the nation s true heart: all the ugly, all the bad, and all the good (and all the beauty in between).  
Tyler James Smith, author of Unstoppable Moses

Filled with heart and humor, Uly and Sallie's story is an important one. The Problem with the Other Side tackles first love, high school politics, and how racism is everywhere. In between Uly and Sallie's banter, we explore their relationships: with each other, with their families, and with themselves. Fans of Nicola Yoon and Nic Stone will enjoy this one.
Rachel Simon, Youth Services Librarian, Newton Free Library (Newton, MA)

A thought-provoking exploration of the way racism cloaks itself while still empowering its adherents and how quickly it can poison a group if allowed to flourish, so